


Thinking in Portals

by VasilisaHart (Aquathief)



Series: Portals!Verse [1]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Coulson lives (for real), F/M, Gen, Loki isn't as much of an ass as he could be, Mind Control, The Tesseract (Marvel), Very much an AU, he isn't the main bad guy either, implied mutations/mutant powers, main characters are on the bad side (sorta)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-09-01
Updated: 2014-09-01
Packaged: 2018-01-19 22:28:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,564
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1486414
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aquathief/pseuds/VasilisaHart
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was only supposed to be a party for the release of the first IM3 trailer. So why am I waking up in the middle on Loki's cell on the Helicarrier? Now, tossed into a scheme of world domination, with new powers to boot, is the Marvel universe as safe as it would've been without their interference? Mid-Avengers and onwards.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Thinking in Portals

_Chapter One- Of all the universes we could’ve landed in, it had to be this one._

 

**Artemis POV**

I never would’ve thought my life would end up where it is now. Hell, if you had told me I’d be a hero of an alien invasion in an alternate universe a few years ago, I’d probably start filing the neccesary forms to have you shipped off to the loony bin. Yet, now I’m standing in a room I thought only existed in fiction, surrounded by people I could’ve only dreamed of meeting once, let alone knowing personally. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s start at the beginning.

->->->-MCU-<-<-<-

**3rd Person POV**

It was a quiet night in the downtown area of Ripley, New York, if you could call it that. Ripley was small enough that the central building of their small downtown area was the high-rise apartment building where, in a studio on the 6th floor, 3 women sat huddled around a computer screen.

The girls, all wearing pajamas ranging from plaid sweats and a tank top to just an oversized t-shirt, were currently transfixed with the video playing on the computer, an early trailer for Iron Man 3. As the final release date appeared on-screen, the silence was broken by the tallest of the trio, a dark-skinned lady with short brown hair and piercing amber eyes.

“Okay, I can already tell Phase Two is shaping up to be better than the rest of the MCU movies. This looks amazing.” Rayna commented, grinning excitedly.

“I’m not sure about the Mandarin, though. He doesn’t look like he’s as vital of a character, though it seems like it’s supposed to.” interjected Stella, brushing her blonde hair out of her eyes. “I have a feeling he’s not going to be so important that he’s the main focus.”

“Oh come on! If Marvel wanted to put out a trailer like that, they should have left at least some clues.” Artemis complained, closing the YouTube tab on her laptop. She picked up the small plush fox sitting next to her, and continued. “What about that creepy guy they showed a 5-second shot of?”

“Maybe…” Stella trailed off as she looked at the computer, which was now starting to glow a bright blue. “Um, should we be worried about-”

In a flash of light, she was cut off. And when the exceedingly bright blue light was gone, the bed was completly empty; the only evidence of anyone being there a large dent in the mattress.

->->->-MCU-<-<-<-

**Artemis POV**

“Uggghhhhhh…” I groaned, shaking off the ache I felt all over. I opened my eyes, and pushed myself up on my hands, keeping a grip on the fox I had been holding. I didn’t recognize any of my surroundings. All I could see was glass and metal. I flipped to the other side, to find Stella next to me. She wasn’t awake yet, and was mumbling.

“...pancakes...now…” she slurred, shifting over to a more comfortable position. I shoved into her shoulder, and she jolted awake. “Food?”

“No, sorry. I don’t know where we are.”

She pulled herself up to sit with her legs tucked underneath, and looked around. “Um, I’m getting an almost creepy sense of deja vu; maybe we’ve seen this place before?”

“I highly doubt you would have seen in here.” An almost too familiar voice commented. I whipped my head around to find myself staring straight into the eyes of Loki Laufeyson. Stella, following suit, gasped audibly and began to ramble nervously.

“Woah shit who the hell are you you look a lot like Loki but he’s not real are you a cosplayer because damn you’ve gotta teach me I mean seriously wait hold on.” She was cut off by whoever it really was clearing his throat. “Sorry.”

“I wonder, how did you manage to get in here?” Loki asked.

“I was about to ask the same thing.” I whipped my head around, and standing on one of the surrounding catwalks was Rayna and, of all the people, Nick Fury. Pun unintended, he looked furious.

“I landed on the table in the console room. I guess I was luckier?” Rayna commented, slightly sarcastically. It was only then that I acknowledged my laptop lying neatly where I had just been.

->->->-MCU-<-<-<-

After a ridiculous amount of questions I had no way of answering, I was shipped off to a spare room somewhere on what I could now tell was the Helicarrier. Of course, we had to be tossed into the middle of the Avengers timeline. Right between phases.

The room was fairly plain, dressed in simple shades of white and grey. Another door on the opposite side from where I came in led to a combined bathroom with whoever was in the next room. Automatically, I flopped onto the bed and turned on my laptop, which they apparantly didn’t need to confiscate. I guess laptops aren’t security threats like random strangers in pajamas are? After logging onto the all-too-conveniently unlocked wifi, I automatically opened my email. I scrolled through the piles of fanfic updates (unsurprisingly, there were no listed updates for Avengers-verse stories) and emails from my boss about not calling in missing. In the middle of these was a single email from my sister, Jade.

I opened it, but didn’t get to read it as someone knocked on the door. I sighed, and walked over to the door, opening it slowly. Outside was Rayna with a purple and blue bundle in her hands. She wasn’t wearing her pajama shirt anymore, rather a blue tank top and jeans. “They found clothes for us.” I took the bundle, and she followed me back in the room. “Stella got mine to me, and she has the map of this place.” she said, sitting down at the desk along the wall. “Her room’s a couple down from you, to the right.”

“Thanks.” I grinned, though it felt a bit forced. “This whole situation is almost ridiculous. I mean, this kind of thing only happens in bad fanfictions. Did we get transported into a bad fanfic? Or is this the real MCU?”

“I’m honestly hoping for the former. Less dangerous.” Rayna joked. “You might want to change soon, it’s about noon here. Stella will never forgive us if we, god forbid, miss more than one meal.”

->->->-MCU-<-<-<-

The standard issue bathroom I shared with Rayna was simple, but it served it’s purpose. I slipped my old pajamas off, tossing them onto the counter, and stepped into the shower. It had only been a little bit since I had been sent here, but I felt like I had run 500 laps around my old college’s campus. The warm water was a relief from the stress of what had happened.

Luckily, the room had been stocked with the basics, so I grabbed the tiny bottle of conditioner and dumped half of it into my hand. At least the government had enough decency to provide for guests/potential terrorists. After a few minutes, I stepped out and wrapped the thin grey towel around my chest. I went to grab the simple red tank top that had been left out, and found a small note placed neatly on top of my clothes. I snatched it up, and read the two sentences written on it in neat cursive.

I have a proposition for you, Miss Reeves. Be here at 10.

->->->-MCU-<-<-<-

**3RD Person POV**

It hadn’t taken much convincing to get Stella to come with me. After asking, she almost threw herself out the door. Rayna, on the other hand, took some persuasion. Being the more cautious one, she didn’t want to be stuck under his control like Barton. So by means of persuasion, Stella was currently dragging her along.

“Why the hell are we going to talk with the psycho murderer? I mean, he’s under mind control for the majority of this movie but really, he did try to destroy a planet while NOT being controlled by a creepy purple dude!” Rayna whispered irritatedly, while Stella continued to drag her across the tiled floors.

“Because I have an idea. Our being in this timeline has already affected the plotlines a lot. So, why not screw them up further and save Agent Coulson?” Artemis answered. Stella gasped, and nearly dropped Rayna.

“You can’t be serious. Besides, didn’t he not die for reals because of the rioting fans?” Stella questioned. “They brought him back for the TV spinoff right?”

“If you think about it, Coulson dying was the motivation for the Avengers to fight Loki for real. If you remove that, their motive is Clint and Selvig. There’s something for them to go for, and we can avoid all the “death of half the fandom’s favorite character” drama.”

“That is the most bullshit answer I’ve heard in my life. But what the hell, it’s more likely we’ll get killed by a vending machine than any of them if Loki was asking after you.” Rayna sighed.

->->->-MCU-<-<-<-

“You got my message.” Loki didn’t face them as they entered the room, however willingly that might be. Stella let go of Rayna, who almost immediatly tried to slap her. “And you even managed to get your companions to join you.”

“Yeah, we managed to not get caught trying to go talk to the psycho murderer. Achievement unlocked.” Artemis intoned sarcastically. Loki tilted his head in confusion, and Rayna sighed.

“Why are we here?” she snapped.

“Simple. I have use for you, and I felt it would be easier for you to come on your own than for me to take you by force.”

“Oh joy, the insane supervillan has use for us. When’s he going to start monologuing?” Rayna muttered.

“And I would prefer for you to have warning before the archer joins us here, as I am sure you will be joining me.” The last part was worded as a statement, dripping with the commanding nature that Artemis felt fit the Other more than Loki. With this statement, it was easy to tell exactly who had his mind under control.

“Oh, such a difficult choice, really. So many options.” she added. “Which one won’t get us killed?” He laughed.

“I knew I would like you.” he turned towards them at last, smiling coldly. “And I am sure you have not realized why I would want to have three ordinary women by my side.” Artemis tilted her head questioningly. “You see, I am able to sense every aspect of a person.” Rayna snorted, and Loki glared pointedly at her before continuing. “Even without seeing them, I can tell their appearance, their greatest fears,” He paused for a moment. “Their magical ability.”

Stella spoke up finally. “Um, what does that have to do with anything?”

“It has to do with why you are here. None of you are as normal as even S.H.I.E.L.D could have guessed.” Stella had her mouth hanging open by this point, understanding his implication. “Simply put, S.H.I.E.L.D would, if they found out, use any means necessary to mold you to their purposes. Whether this means breaking you, they would not care as long as they could use your abilities. I can offer you, in exchange for information and assistance to my cause, training to understand what you can do and protection from Fury and his minions.” Rayna snickered at his wording.

“So, you’re saying we suddenly gained powers falling through a portal and showing up here?” Artemis inquired.

“I unfortunatly cannot answer that. I do not know how you may have come by your powers, but regardless, you have them. There is no denying that.”

Artemis turned to Rayna and Stella, who shared matching expressions of curiosity and slight skepticism, before turning back to Loki. “ We accept. How much time do we have to grab our stuff before Clint blows up the console?”

->->->-MCU-<-<-<-

Artemis had finished tossing things into the backpack she had found in the small closet she had missed beforehand in the corner of the room. Most of what she had was her laptop (which had somehow stayed at 97% battery despite being turned on for the hours they had been there), pajamas, and a couple of the things that she could use from the bathroom. There really wasn’t much she needed, and she assumed she could find anything else on the run.

She looked around the tiny room, and sighed. She honestly wanted nothing more than to go back to her cozy apartment and her job, but she wasn’t even in that universe anymore. Someone else held her job, someone else lived in her little 5th floor apartment, and she couldn’t get that back. She snatched up the fox, which had been set on the bed, and placed it in the top of her bag.

Rayna met her outside the rooms, and was closely followed by Stella. Both had found similar backpacks, and Rayna had even found a somewhat-oversized sweatshirt in her room, which she had thrown on. “Are you sure you want to go with me? I know I kinda made a group decision, but I don’t want to drag you into something you don’t want.” Artemis asked.

Stella smiled relievedly. “I wouldn’t turn back for the world.” Rayna just nodded in agreement. “Come on, we only have 15 minutes to get back!”

->->->-MCU-<-<-<-

They made it back to the cell just as the door slammed shut on Thor, and Loki moved to the control panel. “Are you never not going to fall for that?” he mocked, flipping open the controls for the mechanism holding the cell in place. “You know, the women that Fury found in here are not all they appear to be. And underestimating them was your first mistake.” Thor noticed them walking towards Loki, and could only stare before the button was pushed and he fell.

“You really shouldn’t have done that.” In the opposite entryway from them, Coulson was standing with the Destroyer gun in his hands.

“Oh? And who would stop me?” Loki began to move towards him, but Artemis pushed in front of him. She slowly made her way towards Coulson, who was now aiming the gun at her.

“I know this is wrong, but you need to leave and let him go.” she said quietly. “You probably think I’m as crazy as him, but trust me. If you push this further now, you’ll die. I know this because I’ve seen this, as a film in my home universe.” He looked skeptically at her. “Yes, I know, insane. You need to make them see that they need to stop this invasion, not him. Loki is under mind control, and while he’s typically somewhat vengeful, this is the work of someone more powerful controlling him. And I’m pretty sure I can break that control.” She became quieter than before. “Have them ready to fight by Thursday. The portal will open on top of Stark Tower. Otherwise, the Earth is lost.” She turned away, and he nodded, dropping the gun and exiting.

Out of earshot, he mumbled, “If she’s correct, God help us all.”

Artemis rejoined the group, and said “Romanoff has gotten to Barton. We need to leave now.” As they left, she barely noticed that his eyes weren’t as vividly blue as when they had talked before.

**Author's Note:**

> Well, I posted the story in May, so it's only fitting I finally upload a chapter in August right? I really hope you enjoyed this, as this is actually a rewrite. (The original fanfic is still available to read on my FF.net account) I can't guarantee when the next chapter will be uploaded, but it should be soon!  
> For updates, watch my Tumblr: arigoddessoftheelements.tumblr.com  
> I'll post there when I upload chapters and when I have an update on it's progress.


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